what do you do with your chips?

[researcher]

I am doing some research and trying to learn the best method getting rid of truck loads of chips - do people take them to the landfill? how expensive is that now? and what are the other options?
Any feedback or input is appreciated!

 

[Tree Pig]

If you can find someone with a tub grinder that makes mulch they are usually glad to take chips, stumps, wood just about anything.

 

[Treetom]

We never pay a landfill to take our wood chips. We do give a lot of them away, though. I've got one client that is filling in a swampy area near his house. Others use them for landscaping projects and mulch. Another guy is building a berm between his house and the neighbor to reduce noise and create privacy. Green houses and tree farms are other sources that use a lot of our wood chips. We never have to drive more than a few miles from the job site to dump chips. Include "Free Wood Chips" in your advertising and you should have no trouble getting rid of them.

 

[flushcut]

I take mine to a nursery, a christmas tree farm, a revolving client list for mulch, and lastly to my buddies house for his walking trails. They are all spread out throughout my service area so a dump spot is never far away.

 

[Grace Tree]

I dump them at the CLOSEST place I can find. We have a couple mulch guys in the area that will take the chips and junk wood. If we're far out and have multiple loads I'll run a Craigslist add a week or so in advance. Usually get 20 replies, 5 of which are good leads and we pick the closest or or the closest one that doesn't seem like a knucklehead. Otherwise they go back to my yard. I used to spread them but now I just make a pile and put a sign by the street and people come and get them. When I get enough one of the mulch guys will bring a loader and a big dump and take them. At 5 mpg for my chip truck I'm not going out of my way to get rid of them.
Phil

 

[capecodtree]

chips

I produce about 2k cy/year. I sell them (biomass) they come to my yard and give me $3/cy. Local outfits that make mulch pay about the same. I wish I had more chips to sell, it's easy money from a by product.

 

[husabud]

I produce about 2k cy/year. I sell them (biomass) they come to my yard and give me $3/cy. Local outfits that make mulch pay about the same. I wish I had more chips to sell, it's easy money from a by product.

I wish I was doing that much a year. Maybe soon. I do most of my work on the outer cape, but some in your area. Do you want my chips if I am in your neck of the woods? I'd be happy to give you what I've got. PM me if your interested. Back to the topic, A local sand and gravel yard takes them for nothin and recycles them locally.

 

[BC WetCoast]

We have to pay pay pay. Occasionally we find someone who will take some, but it's not often.

We have a lot of sawmills around, so all the mulch used by the commercial guys comes from shredded bark from the sawmills, so there is no mulch market for chips.

Depends on your market.

 

[Slvrmple72]

I let my chips fall where they may...


Sorry, couldn't resist that one, dump them at nearest mulch place, figure fuel costs per job + loads of chips and make it part of my total estimate for each job.

 

[treeman82]

The mulch place over here charges to dump, and one of the local nurseries started charging $25 per load last year.

 

[sgreanbeans]

I drive with the tailgate open, doesn't take long, on big loads I will hit the country roads and just dump them in a ditch, usually under the cover of darkness.

just kidding, although it is done, just not by me!

We have multiple spots that will take them, re grinders, plus the old IH plant uses them to heat the buildings. I try and not dump on residential, they are always disappointed in how the mulch looks when they spread it around their landscape, then call me and complain? I think not. I always tell them that it will look like crap, but they don't care at the time, just care about getting sumtin for free!

 

[treeman75]

I am always looking for places. I get people that want them but they dont want the stubs and rakings that are in with them. I have a place to dump wether its raining or snowing, I can always get in. They take logs and chips and sell the chips to an ethonal plant.

 

[prentice110]

I drive with the tailgate open, doesn't take long, on big loads I will hit the country roads and just dump them in a ditch, usually under the cover of darkness.

just kidding, although it is done, just not by me!

You must be from Mini-soda! LOL. On a serious note, we make more these days selling mulch then we do competeing against hacks, so we bring em' to the yard and tub grind em'. Thats what were doing today as a matter of fact. Got around 90 yards goin out. Same Saturday. On farther out jobs, theres a few munincipal dumps or other mulch guys that will gladly take em'. Some of the holier than thou types that still try to charge a tipping fee are hurtin cuz all mulch guys are dying for product cuz with the economy noones cutting. You guys remember the 80's when you couldnt pull into a nieghborhood with a chipper without having 5 nieghbors fightin over who got the chips?

 

[TimberMcPherson]

We generally get rid of our loads for bottles of red wine. But money is good to

 

[137cc]

We got a guy in our town that makes mulch. He will buy chips for $2/cy. Pretty much all of our chips go there unless were far enough away from home we got to hit the scales. Then we have other spots that will take them for free.

 

[Menchhofer]

We sometimes dump them but usually sell them to customers. We get 65-85.00 per 20 yards most of the time.

 

[arborpros]

We have a local mulch company that lets people dump chips for free. Can't beat that.

 

[MarquisTree]

We load them in trailers and sell them to paper mills in Maine, they use them as fuel in their boilers. We sell about 120 tons a week

 

[TREE_KILLER]

Most costumers in the rural areas where we work let us broadcast chips on to the forest floor. 3 out of 5 times someone asks us for them as soon as we pull on the street. When we have good hardwood chips (not chips from fruit or nut trees) the horse farms will take them. Other wise we have a few people that will take chips for free. We have not had to go to the dumps since we bought a chipper. At the landfill for green waste they charge $15cy and they turn around and sell it.

 

[kugss]

Not that i do this like you guys but i thought i would let others know how some guys do it around here. The local boro dumps them on the corner down the street from me and the locals go and get as needed it dont last long. Also there are a few local motocross tracks that take chips to mix in with the dirt to keep the moisture in the soil.